Secrets of cooking ruby ​​stars: how the main symbol of the Kremlin is produced. Kremlin stars

In the fall of 1935, the last symbol of the Russian monarchy - the double-headed eagles on the Kremlin towers - was ordered to live long. Instead, five-pointed stars were installed.

Symbolism

Why the five-pointed star became the symbol of Soviet power is not known for certain, but what is known is that Leon Trotsky lobbied for this symbol. Seriously interested in esotericism, he knew that the star, the pentagram, has a very powerful energy potential and is one of the most powerful symbols. The symbol of the new state could well be the swastika, the cult of which was very strong in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The swastika was depicted on the “Kerenki”, swastikas were painted on the wall of the Ipatiev House by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna before the execution, but by almost the sole decision of Trotsky, the Bolsheviks settled on a five-pointed star. The history of the 20th century will show that the “star” is stronger than the “swastika”... The stars also shone over the Kremlin, replacing the double-headed eagles.

Technique

Placing thousand-kilogram stars on the Kremlin towers was no easy task. The catch was that there was simply no suitable equipment in 1935. The height of the lowest tower, Borovitskaya, is 52 meters, the highest, Troitskaya - 72. There were no tower cranes of this height in the country, but for Russian engineers there is no word “no”, there is the word “must”. Stalprommekhanizatsiya specialists designed and built a special crane for each tower, which could be installed on its upper tier. At the base of the tent, a metal base - a console - was mounted through the tower window. A crane was assembled on it. So, in several stages, the double-headed eagles were first dismantled, and then the stars were erected.

Reconstruction of the towers

The weight of each of the Kremlin stars reached up to a ton. Considering the height at which they were supposed to be located and the sail surface of each star (6.3 sq.m.), there was a danger that the stars would simply be torn out along with the tops of the towers. It was decided to test the towers for durability. Not in vain: the upper ceilings of the tower vaults and their tents have fallen into disrepair. The builders strengthened the brickwork of the upper floors of all towers, and additionally introduced metal connections into the tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. The tent of the Nikolskaya Tower turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt.

So different and spinning

Do identical stars didn't. The four stars were different from each other decoration. On the edges of the star of the Spasskaya Tower there were rays emanating from the center. On the star of the Trinity Tower, the rays were made in the form of ears of corn. The star of the Borovitskaya Tower consisted of two contours inscribed one into the other, and the rays of the star of the Nikolskaya Tower had no pattern. The stars of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers were the same in size. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4.5 meters. The stars of the Trinity and Borovitskaya towers were smaller. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4 and 3.5 meters, respectively. Stars are good, but spinning stars are doubly good. Moscow is big, there are a lot of people, everyone needs to see the Kremlin stars. Special bearings manufactured at the First Bearing Plant were installed at the base of each star. Thanks to this, despite their significant weight, the stars could easily rotate, turning to face the wind. By the location of the stars, therefore, one can judge where the wind is blowing from.

Gorky Park

The installation of the Kremlin stars became a real holiday for Moscow. The stars were not taken under cover of darkness to Red Square. The day before they were installed on the Kremlin towers, the stars were put on display in the Park named after. Gorky. Together with mere mortals, the secretaries of the city and district CPSU(b) came to look at the stars; in the light of the spotlights, Ural gems sparkled and the rays of the stars sparkled. The eagles removed from the towers were installed here, clearly demonstrating the dilapidation of the “old” and the beauty of the “new” world.

Ruby

Kremlin stars were not always ruby. The first stars, installed in October 1935, were made of high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. In the middle of each star, on both sides, sparkled lined with precious stones hammer and sickle emblems. The precious stones faded after a year, and the stars were too big and did not fit well into the architectural ensemble. In May 1937, it was decided to install new stars - luminous, ruby ​​ones. At the same time, another one was added to the four towers with stars - Vodovzvodnaya. Ruby glass was welded at glass factory in Konstantinovka, according to the recipe of the Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin. It was necessary to cook 500 square meters ruby glass, for which it was invented new technology- “selenium ruby”. Before this to achieve desired color gold was added to glass; Selenium is cheaper and the color is deeper.

Lamps

The Kremlin stars not only rotate, but also glow. To avoid overheating and damage, about 600 cubic meters of air per hour are passed through the stars. The stars are not in danger of a power outage because their energy supply is self-sufficient. Lamps for the Kremlin stars were developed at the Moscow Electric Tube Plant. The power of three - on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers - is 5000 watts, and 3700 watts - on Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya. Each contains two filaments connected in parallel. If one lamp burns out, the lamp continues to light, and a fault signal is sent to the control panel. To change lamps you do not need to go up to the star; the lamp goes down on a special rod directly through the bearing. The entire procedure takes 30-35 minutes. Throughout history, the stars have gone out twice. Once - during the war, the second - during the filming of “The Barber of Siberia”.

The beautiful ruby ​​stars fit so harmoniously into the appearance of the five ancient Moscow towers that they seem to be their natural continuation. But long years no less beautiful double-headed eagles sat on the Kremlin towers.

Huge gilded double-headed eagles have appeared on four Kremlin towers since the mid-50s of the seventeenth century.

Spasskaya Tower with an eagle

Spasskaya Tower with an eagle and mausoleum. 1925

In the first years after the revolution, the Bolsheviks tried to destroy all the symbols of the old world, but they did not touch the eagles on the Kremlin towers; Soviet power. Although Lenin repeatedly reminded of the need to dismantle them, this operation required a lot of money, was very technically complex, and at first the Bolsheviks could not decide what to replace the eagles with? There were various proposals - flags, the coat of arms of the USSR, an emblem with a hammer and sickle... Finally, we settled on stars.

In the spring of 1935, watching the planes fly by at the parade, Stalin was especially irritated by the sight of the royal eagles spoiling the whole picture.

Parade on Red Square. 1935

At the end of the summer of 1935, a TASS message was published: “The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) decided by November 7, 1935 to remove 4 eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall, and 2 eagles from the building of the Historical Museum. By the same date, it was decided to install the indicated 4 towers of the Kremlin a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle."

They decided to make all the stars different, each with its own unique design. A smooth star without a pattern was designed for the Nikolskaya Tower.

When the models were ready, the country's leaders came to look at them and gave the go-ahead for the production of real stars. Their only wish was to make the stars rotate so that they could be admired from everywhere.
They decided to make the stars from high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. The real decoration should have been a symbol sparkling in the sun and under the rays of spotlights Soviet Russia- hammer and sickle. Over the creation of this beauty from huge amount A whole army of jewelers worked for the Ural gems for a month and a half.

The stars turned out to be much heavier than the eagles; the weight of each star was about 1000 kg. Before installing them, we had to additionally strengthen the tents on the towers. The structure had to withstand even hurricane winds. And in order for the stars to become rotating, bearings were installed at their base, which were manufactured for this purpose at the First Bearing Plant.

Now the extremely difficult task lay ahead of dismantling the double-headed eagles and then installing huge stars in their place. The towers had a height of 52 to 72 meters, and there were no suitable equipment - high cranes - then. It was necessary to come up with something, and the engineers finally found a way out. A crane was designed separately for each tower, which was installed on the upper tier on a special metal base, specially mounted for this purpose.

Dismantling the eagles

After the eagles were dismantled using this technique, they did not immediately raise the stars in their place, but decided to first show them to Muscovites. To do this, for one day they were put on public display in the Park named after. Gorky.

The eagles, from which the gilding had already been removed, were also placed nearby. Of course, the eagles played next to the sparkling sparkling stars, symbolizing the beauty of the new world.

Double-headed eagles taken from the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers, in the Central Park of Culture and Culture named after. Gorky, October 23, 1935

On October 24, 1935, having thoroughly checked the equipment, we began to slowly raise the star to the Spasskaya Tower. Having reached a height of 70 meters, the winch was stopped, and the climbers, carefully guiding the star, very accurately lowered it onto the support spire. Everything worked out! Hundreds of people gathered in the square and watched this unique operation, the installers applauded.

The star begins to rise

The first Kremlin stars over Moscow

Over the next three days, three more stars were installed, shining on the Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya and Trinity towers.

However, these stars did not appear on the towers for long. Just two years later they lost their shine and became dull - soot, dust and dirt did their job.
It was decided to replace them, and it was recommended to reduce their size, since the first stars still looked rather heavy. The task was set to do this as soon as possible, by the 20th anniversary of the revolution.

This time it was decided to make the stars from ruby ​​glass and glowing from within, and not from spotlights. To solve this problem, they were involved the best minds countries.
The recipe for ruby ​​glass was developed by Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin - to achieve the desired color, selenium was added to the glass instead of gold. Firstly, it was cheaper, and secondly, it made it possible to obtain a more saturated and deep color.

And so, on November 2, 1937, new ruby ​​stars lit up on the Kremlin towers. Another star appeared - on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, and there were five such towers, like the rays of the star.

These stars truly glow from within.

This effect is achieved thanks to special lamps inside them with a power of 5000 watts, made to special order. In addition, they have two filaments, one for safety net. In order to change the lamp, you do not need to climb up to it; you can lower it on a special rod.
The stars have double glazing. The outside is ruby ​​glass for color, and the inside is milky white for better dispersion. Milky white glass is used to prevent ruby ​​glass from appearing too dark in bright light.

During the Great Patriotic War the Kremlin stars went out - they were covered up, since they were an excellent reference point for the enemy. And after the war, when the tarpaulin was removed, it turned out that they had received minor shrapnel damage from an anti-aircraft battery located nearby. The stars had to be sent for restoration, after which they shone even brighter. A new three-layer glazing of the stars was made (ruby glass, frosted glass and crystal), and their gilded frame was also updated. In the spring of 1946, the stars were returned to the towers.

Before the rise of the restored star to the Trinity Tower, March 1946

Once every five years, industrial climbers ascend to the stars to wash them.

It’s interesting that now on Red Square against the backdrop of the Kremlin ruby stars Eagles can be seen again. In the summer of 1997, four eagles returned to their rightful places, which, along with lions and unicorns, adorned the roof of the Historical Museum. The eagles were removed from the museum in 1935, as were the eagles from the Kremlin towers. But these were luckier - they returned.

Replica of the golden Double-Headed Eagle, returned to the State Tower in 1997 historical museum in Moscow.

And in December 2003, lions and unicorns, which had occupied old places on the low towers of the museum.

Unicorn on the building of the Historical Museum

Lions on the building of the Historical Museum

New ruby ​​star

The stars on the Kremlin towers appeared not so long ago. Until 1935, in the very center of the country of victorious socialism, there were still gilded symbols of tsarism, double-headed eagles. Below the cut is the difficult story of the Kremlin stars and eagles.

Since the 1600s four Kremlin towers(Troitskaya, Spasskaya, Borovitskaya and Nikolskaya) were decorated with symbols of Russian statehood - huge gilded double-headed eagles. These eagles did not sit on spiers for centuries - they changed quite often (after all, some researchers still argue what material they were made of - metal or gilded wood; there is information that the body of some eagles - if not all - was wooden, and other parts - metal; but it is logical to assume that those first two-headed birds were made entirely of wood). This fact - the fact of constant rotation of spire decorations - should be remembered, because it is he who will subsequently play one of the main roles during the replacement of eagles with stars.

In the first years of Soviet power, all double-headed eagles in the state were destroyed, all but four. Four gilded eagles sat on the towers of the Moscow Kremlin. The question of replacing the royal eagles with red stars on the Kremlin towers repeatedly arose soon after the revolution. However, such a replacement was associated with large financial expenses and therefore could not be carried out in the first years of Soviet power.

The real opportunity to allocate funds for installing stars on the Kremlin towers appeared much later. In 1930, they turned to the artist and art critic Igor Grabar with a request to establish artistic and historical value Kremlin eagles. He replied: “... none of the eagles currently existing on the Kremlin towers represent an ancient monument and cannot be protected as such.”

Parade 1935. Eagles watch Maxim Gorky fly by and spoil the holiday of Soviet power.

In August 1935, the following TASS message was published in the central press: “The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) decided by November 7, 1935 to remove 4 eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall, and 2 eagle from the building of the Historical Museum. By the same date, it was decided to install a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle on the indicated 4 Kremlin towers."

The design and production of the first Kremlin stars was entrusted to two Moscow factories and workshops of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). An outstanding decorative artist, academician Fyodor Fedorovich Fedorovsky took up the development of sketches of future stars. He determined their shape, size, pattern. They decided to make the Kremlin stars from high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. In the middle of each star, on both sides, the emblems of the hammer and sickle, lined with precious stones, were supposed to sparkle.

When the sketches were created, life-size models of the stars were made. The hammer and sickle emblems were temporarily inlaid with imitation precious stones. Each model star was illuminated with twelve spotlights. This is exactly how they intended to illuminate the real stars on the Kremlin towers at night and on cloudy days. When the spotlights were turned on, the stars sparkled and sparkled with a myriad of colorful lights.

Party leaders and Soviet government. They agreed to make the stars with an indispensable condition - to make them rotating, so that Muscovites and guests of the capital could admire them from everywhere.

Hundreds of people of various specialties took part in the creation of the Kremlin stars. For the Spasskaya and Troitskaya towers, the stars were made in the workshops of TsAGI under the leadership of the chief engineer of the institute A. A. Arkhangelsky, and for the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers - at Moscow factories under the leadership of the chief designer.

All four stars differed from each other in artistic design. So, on the edges of the star of the Spasskaya Tower there were rays emanating from the center. On the star of the Trinity Tower, the rays were made in the form of ears of corn. The star of the Borovitskaya Tower consisted of two contours inscribed one into the other. But the rays of the star of the Nikolskaya Tower had no pattern.

The stars of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers were the same in size. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4.5 meters. The stars of the Trinity and Borovitskaya towers were smaller. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4 and 3.5 meters, respectively.

Basic structure stars was made in the form of a light but durable stainless steel frame. Framing decorations made of red copper sheets were placed on this frame. They were plated with gold with a thickness of 18 to 20 microns. Each star had a hammer and sickle emblem measuring 2 meters in size and weighing 240 kilograms on both sides. The emblems were decorated with precious Ural stones - rock crystal, amethysts, alexandrites, topazes and aquamarines. To make eight emblems, it took about 7 thousand stones ranging in size from 20 to 200 carats (one carat is equal to 0.2 grams.) From the report of Pauper, an employee of the operational department of the NKVD: “Each stone is cut with a diamond cut (on 73 sides) and sealed to prevent falling out into a separate silver cast with a silver screw and nut. Total weight all stars - 5600 kilograms."

Star for the Nikolskaya Tower. 1935 ph. B. Vdovenko.

The frame of the emblem was made of bronze and stainless steel. Each precious stone in a frame of gilded silver was separately attached to this frame. Two hundred and fifty of the best jewelers in Moscow and Leningrad worked for a month and a half to create the emblems. The principles for the arrangement of stones were developed by Leningrad artists.

The design of the stars was designed to withstand the load of hurricane winds. Special bearings manufactured at the First Bearing Plant were installed at the base of each star. Thanks to this, the stars, despite their significant weight, could easily rotate and become their frontal side against the wind.

Before installing the stars on the Kremlin towers, engineers had doubts: would the towers withstand their weight and storm wind loads? After all, each star weighed on average one thousand kilograms and had a sail surface of 6.3 square meters. A thorough examination revealed that the upper ceilings of the tower vaults and their tents had fallen into disrepair. It was necessary to strengthen the brickwork of the upper floors of all the towers on which the stars were to be installed. In addition, metal connections were additionally introduced into the tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. And the tent of the Nikolskaya Tower turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt.

Now the specialists of the All-Union Office of Stalprommekhanizatsiya L.N. Shchipakov, I.V. Kunegin, N.B. Gitman and I.I. Reshetov were faced with the responsible task of raising and installing stars on the Kremlin towers. But how to do that? After all, the lowest of them, Borovitskaya, has a height of 52 meters, and the highest, Troitskaya, is 77 meters. At that time there were no large cranes, but specialists from Stalprommekhanizatsiya found an original solution. They designed and built a special crane for each tower that could be installed on its top tier. At the base of the tent, a metal base - a console - was built through the tower window. The crane was assembled on it.

The day came when everything was ready for the rise of the five-pointed stars. But first they decided to show them to Muscovites. On October 23, 1935, the stars were delivered to the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after. M. Gorky and installed on pedestals covered with red. In the light of the spotlights, gilded rays sparkled and Ural gems sparkled. The secretaries of the city and district committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the chairman of the Moscow City Council arrived to inspect the stars. Hundreds of Muscovites and guests of the capital came to the park. Everyone wanted to admire the beauty and grandeur of the stars that were soon to flash in the sky of Moscow.

The captured eagles were put on display there.

On October 24, 1935, the first star was installed on the Spasskaya Tower. Before lifting, it was carefully polished with soft rags. At this time, mechanics checked the crane's winch and motor. At 12:40 the command “Vira little by little!” was heard. The star took off from the ground and began to slowly rise upward. When she reached a height of 70 meters, the winch stopped. The steeplejacks standing at the very top of the tower carefully picked up the star and pointed it at the spire. At 13:30 the star descended exactly on the support pin. Eyewitnesses of the event recall that on this day several hundred people gathered on Red Square to follow the operation. The moment the star was on the spire, the entire crowd began to applaud the climbers.

The next day, a five-pointed star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower. On October 26 and 27, the stars shone over the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers. The installers had perfected the lifting technique so well that it took them no more than an hour and a half to install each star. The exception was the star of the Trinity Tower, whose rise due to strong wind lasted about two hours. A little more than two months have passed since the newspapers published the decree on the installation of stars. Or rather, only 65 days. Newspapers wrote about the labor feat of Soviet workers, who created real works of art in such a short period of time.

The star from the Spasskaya Tower now crowns the spire of the River Station.

The first stars did not decorate the towers of the Moscow Kremlin for long. Just a year later, under the influence of atmospheric precipitation, the Ural gems faded. In addition, they did not fully fit into the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin due to their large size. Therefore, in May 1937, it was decided to install new stars - luminous, ruby ​​ones. At the same time, another one was added to the four towers with stars - Vodovzvodnaya. Professor Alexander Landa (Fishelevich) was appointed chief engineer for the development and installation of stars. His project is still kept in Samara - five massive albums of drawings in red bindings. They say they are no less impressive than the stars themselves.

Ruby glass was welded at a glass factory in Konstantinovka, according to the recipe of Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin. It was necessary to weld 500 square meters of ruby ​​glass, for which a new technology was invented - “selenium ruby”. Previously, gold was added to glass to achieve the desired color; Selenium is cheaper and the color is deeper. Special bearings were installed at the base of each star so that, despite their weight, they could rotate like a weather vane. They are not afraid of rust and hurricanes, since the “frame” of the stars is made of special stainless steel. The fundamental difference: weather vanes indicate where the wind is blowing, and Kremlin stars indicate where the wind is blowing. Have you understood the essence and significance of the fact? Thanks to the diamond-shaped cross-section of the star, it always stubbornly faces the wind. And any - up to a hurricane. Even if everything around is completely demolished, the stars and tents will remain intact. That's how it was designed and built.

But suddenly the following was discovered: sunlight ruby stars appear... black. The answer was found - the five-pointed beauties had to be made in two layers, and the bottom, inner layer of glass had to be milky white, scattering light well. By the way, this provided both a more even glow and hiding the filaments of the lamps from human eyes. By the way, a dilemma arose here too - how to make the glow even? After all, if the lamp is installed in the center of the star, the rays will obviously be less bright. The combination of different thicknesses and color saturations of the glass helped. In addition, the lamps are enclosed in refractors consisting of prismatic glass tiles.

Photo chistoprudov

Powerful lamps (up to 5000 watts) raised the temperature inside the stars, like in a locomotive furnace. The heat threatened to destroy both the lamp bulbs themselves and the precious five-pointed rubies. The professor wrote: “It is quite clear that the glass cannot be allowed to burst and crack in the event of rain or a change in weather and the glass falling down. The fans work flawlessly. About 600 cubic meters of air per hour are passed through the stars, which completely guarantees against overheating.” The five-pointed Kremlin luminaries are not in danger of a power outage, since their energy supply is autonomous.

Lamps for the Kremlin stars were developed at the Moscow Electric Tube Plant. The power of three - on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers - is 5000 watts, and 3700 watts - on Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya. Each contains two filaments connected in parallel. If one lamp burns out, the lamp continues to light, and a fault signal is sent to the control panel. The mechanism for changing lamps is interesting: you don’t even have to go up to the star, the lamp goes down on a special rod directly through the bearing. The entire procedure takes 30-35 minutes.

In the evening and at night, bright scarlet stars burn over the Moscow Kremlin - symbols of our country’s socialist past. These five-pointed lamps, made of special “ruby” glass, were installed to replace the Armorial Eagles Russian Empire in the 1930s of the last century.

Ideas about replacing the royal eagles on the Kremlin towers with stars were repeatedly expressed immediately after October revolution. But such a reconstruction was associated with too much money and therefore could not be carried out for a long time.

In August 1935, the following TASS message was published in the central press: “The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) decided by November 7, 1935 to remove 4 eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall, and 2 eagle from the building of the Historical Museum.

By the same date, it was decided to install a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle on the indicated 4 Kremlin towers.”

The first star replaced the eagle on the Spasskaya Tower. This event took place on October 24, 1935, and the next day the second star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower. On October 26 and 27, the stars shone over the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers. On Vodovzvodnaya the star appeared later than others - only in May 1937.

The design and production of the first Kremlin stars were carried out by two Moscow factories, as well as workshops of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute. The drawings were created by an outstanding decorative artist, academician Fyodor Fedorovich Fedorovsky, who not only calculated their shape and size, but also sketched the finishing options.

It was decided to make the first Kremlin stars from stainless steel and red copper. In the middle of each of them, on both sides, emblems laid out from precious stones were supposed to sparkle. Soviet state- hammer and sickle.

For presentation to the leaders of the party and government, full-size models of all four stars were made, which, it must be said, differed from each other in artistic design.

On the edges of the star of the Spasskaya Tower there were rays emanating from the center; on the Trinity star - the rays were made in the form of ears of corn. The “Borovitskaya” star consisted of two contours inscribed one into the other, and the rays of the Nikolskaya Tower star had no pattern at all.

The country's leaders appreciated the splendor shown to them and agreed to make the stars. True, with one condition: that the symbols of the country be rotating - let Muscovites and guests of the capital admire them from everywhere. Soon several factories received government orders of particular importance.

The supporting structure of the huge stars was made in the form of a light but durable stainless steel frame, on which were placed framing decorations made of red copper sheets. The red metal was plated with 18 to 20 microns of gold.

On each star, a hammer and sickle emblem measuring 2 meters and weighing 240 kilograms was attached on both sides. The frame of the emblem was made of bronze and stainless steel. Separately attached to it were precious stones set in gilded silver, making up the hammer and sickle.

Two hundred and fifty of the best jewelers in Moscow and Leningrad worked on the creation of these emblems for one and a half months. In total, about 7 thousand Ural gems - topazes, aquamarines, amethysts and alexandrites, ranging in size from 20 to 200 carats - were used to make the eight emblems.

The craftsmen installed special bearings manufactured at the First Bearing Plant at the base of each star. Thanks to this, the stars, despite their significant weight (about a ton), could easily rotate and withstand any wind.

The task of lifting the stars was entrusted to the specialists of the All-Union office Stalprommekhanizatsiya, who found an original solution - they designed and built a special crane for each tower, which could be installed on its upper tier. The operation to install one star took about two hours.

However, the first stars of the Kremlin did not decorate its towers for long. Under the influence of atmospheric precipitation, within a year the Ural gems faded and the gilding ceased to shine.

In May 1937, it was decided to install new stars - luminous, ruby ​​ones. The star, which in 1935–1937 crowned the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower, was moved to the spire of the capital’s Northern River Station.

The new stars received double glazing: the inner one was made of milky glass, which scatters light well, and the outer one was made of ruby, bright red glass, 6–7 mm thick. This was done because in bright sunlight the red color of the stars from the earth would appear black.

There are no precious stones in them: the resemblance to a ruby ​​is given to the glass by the selenium added to it during cooking.

The lamps of the Kremlin stars deserve special attention. They were developed by special order at the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant. They contain two filaments connected in parallel. Therefore, even if one of them burns out, the lamp will not stop shining.

During the war, in order to camouflage the capital, the Kremlin stars were covered with tarpaulin. When the disguise was removed, it turned out that the glasses of the stars were severely damaged. They were probably hit more than once by anti-aircraft artillery shells defending Moscow from raids German aviation.

A complete restoration of the Kremlin stars was carried out at the end of 1945 - beginning of 1946. The craftsmen resumed gilding the frame, and made the glass three-layered: a crystal layer appeared between the ruby ​​and milk glass. The Kremlin stars have become even brighter, stronger and more beautiful.

Several years ago, the ruby ​​stars were once again subjected to restoration - craftsmen examined the lamps and replaced some cracked glass.

Stars are usually washed every five years. Monthly to maintain reliable operation auxiliary equipment Planned preventive maintenance is carried out, more serious ones are performed every eight years.

The Kremlin star system has a single control center, which is located in the Trinity Tower. Twice a day, the operation of the lamps is visually checked, and their fans are also switched. There is no threat of a power outage for the five-pointed Kremlin luminaries - they have an autonomous power supply.

The five towers of the Moscow Kremlin, Borovitskaya, Troitskaya, Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Vodovzvodnaya, still shine with red stars, but the towers of the State Historical Museum are now proudly crowned with double-headed eagles. This is how the heirs of the glorious past of our great country coexist peacefully on Red Square.

Kremlin Stars is a brand known all over the world. Their ruby ​​color is remembered in dozens of songs and poems, and their image is unmistakably associated with Russian capital. Moscow and the Kremlin stars are firmly connected with each other in the minds of every Russian. However, few people wonder how difficult it is to produce a product worthy of decorating the heart of Russia. Now the technology and capabilities for manufacturing the Kremlin star are owned by almost the only enterprise in the country. Zvezda talked with the deputy director of the Research and Production Company Steklo of the Romashin ORPE Tekhnologiya, Vyacheslav Samsonov. It is this research and production complex that holds the secrets of producing Kremlin stars. How the stars did before the war Kremlin stars were not always made of ruby ​​glass; initially the creators thought of making them from precious and semi-precious materials. In the 1930s, prototypes of such products were made, but later the idea had to be abandoned, since from a height the stars made of precious stones looked completely inconspicuous, Samsonov said.

“In 1937 they made it from ruby ​​glass, but the attempt was unsuccessful, since the lighting element is an incandescent lamp that stands and illuminates these stars. She was visible through the glass. That is, there was no such effect that the star was burning, the lamp itself was visible from the inside,” noted the deputy director of NPK Steklo.

“In Vyshny Volochyok they made another option, a working one. This is overhead glass. What is overlay glass? Ruby red is collected, a cylinder of red glass is blown, and then crystal glass, colorless, is poured onto it from a second furnace nearby. And on top there is a third layer, this is opal, or milk glass. Here's a three-layer sandwich. Stars were made from it, these stars have proven themselves well,” shared Vyacheslav Samsonov.

“It’s difficult to get them (ruby glasses - editor’s note). They contain about ten elements in composition, quartz sand, soda, zinc white and boric acid... metallic selenium and cadmium carbonate are used as dyes, which in certain proportions give such color saturation. Selenium glass is very difficult to cook; it is a very volatile material, if temperature conditions gone, it may darken, become light, or disappear altogether,” Samsonov said.